Adoption and Scaling of Waste-to-Energy Technologies in the Brazilian Agricultural and Livestock Sectors

Accelerating Market-Driven Partnerships (AMP), a nonprofit launched by the U.S. Secretary of State's Global Partnership Initiative, and The Carbon War Room, a partnering organization founded by Sir Richard Branson, commissioned a Capstone team to conduct a feasibility survey on the opportunities and challenges associated with scaling the adoption of Waste-to-Energy (WtE) technologies in Brazil. Adoption of better waste management technology could substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and livestock production. However, despite the availability of proven and economically viable WtE technologies in Brazil, use remains limited. Given the size of Brazil’s agricultural sector, encouraging broader WtE take-up could be an opportunity to sustainably, and even profitably, reduce the sector’s carbon footprint. Taking on this challenge, the Capstone team conducted a literature review, stakeholder mapping, and qualitative interviews in the field to provide a survey of the most promising technologies, identify market barriers, build potential business models, and bring together a network of collaborative partners. The team’s findings and recommendations will serve to guide AMP and CWR’s multi-year strategic partnership on this initiative.